116 Russian athletes to take part in Comrades Marathon

The Comrades Marathon Association says the rules for the participation of Russian athletes in world sporting events don't apply to the 90km race. 

It revealed that a total of 116 Russian athletes have signed up for Sunday's down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. 

As part of sanctions against those responsible for the war in Ukraine, governing body, World Athletics, said earlier this year that athletes from Russia and Belarus are still prohibited from competing in events, including qualifiers for next year's Paris Olympics. 

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The marathon's race director Rowyn James says the Comrades isn't a World Athletics-accredited event. 

"The reason for that is that it is not a world athletics-recognised distance, so the rules pertaining to Russian participation do not apply to the Comrades Marathon. 

"In terms of the number of participants, 78 men from Russia and 38 females from Russia is the total number of Russian participants in the Comrades this year."